You are here

Alister Macintyre Japan Map Collection

Primary tabs

I have added some more to my growing collection of Japan map links.

Various science mapping efforts have begun,[1] such as:

  • Dartmouth Flood Observatory summary link[2] to March 14 PDF collection of maps[3] of area affected by the tsunami wave flooding inland.
  • Earthquake overview mapped by http://www.pdc.org Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), summary[4] link to detail[5] PDF.  I did not think this was as useful as their Low lying coastal areas map, but it does show major Japanese motorways.
  • Epicenter of the disaster in Japan[6]
  • European Commission - Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC)
    • March 14 summary link[7] to PDF[8] of locations affected … it identifies many towns with population before the disaster, how many people missing, numbers of bodies found …dark blue along coast shows where tsunami waves came inland.  The power plants are on the map, along with many roads.
    • I downloaded a copy of this map, naming it
    • EOJ Map 2011 Mar 14 EC JRC
  • Fukushima Dai-Ichi I on a map from http://www.pdc.org Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), summary[9] link to detail[10] PDF.  This nuclear power plant is one of three in trouble right after March 11 earthquake and tsunami.  There’s another in trouble much farther south thanks to one of the aftershocks and accompanying tsunami.[11]  This map has 2 circles around.  Orange middle is 3 km. Yellow outer is 10 km.  These are the initial evacuation and stay indoors zones which later got expanded.
    • I downloaded a copy of this map, naming it
    • EOJ Map 2011 Mar 11 NPS Fukushima Dai-Ichi I
    • EQJ = Earthquake Japan (organizing my documents vs. Haiti)
    • NPS = Nuclear Power Station
  • German Aerospace Center (DLR)[12] correlates sea level of critical infrastructure vs. tsunami affects, for example how far the airport above sea level vs. height of wave when it got there, locations of various places in the news, links to stories.
    • Here is summary link[13] to DLR March 14 Interactive satellite analysis map of earthquake tsunami http://www.zki.dlr.de/article/1893 where there is at least a score of additional downloadable maps of various aspects of the Japan disaster.
  • Japanese Points of Interest http://teitennomori.uchida.co.jp/mori/en/ once we know location name etc. from the other maps.
  • OCHA Situation Map
    • As of 2011 March 16[14] Color coded with: how strong the shaking; tsunami inundation flooding; and proximity to nuclear power plants.[15]  Includes estimates of numbers of people living in various coastal areas of prefectures inundated by the flooding.
    • I downloaded a copy of this with the name:
    • EOJ Map 2011 Mar 16 OCHA
  • Low lying coastal areas of Japan mapped by http://www.pdc.org Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), summary[16] link to detail[17] PDF.  The info is not all overlaid, but the maps include:[18]
    • Population density on a map
    • Color coded lowest lying coastal areas (0-30 feet above sea level)
    • Icons for airports seaports nuclear-power-plants
    • Color coded symbols for epicenters of various severity aftershocks
    • I downloaded a copy of this map, naming it
    • EOJ 2011 March 11 PDC Flood Threat
  • NASA
  • Surface Water after Earthquake and Tsunami,[23] March 14 Map jointly developed by
  • Tsunami crisis map[24] jointly developed by
    • European Commission - Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC)
    • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
    • There are little bars showing how high the tsunami when it hits various land masses.  There’s various icons – scroll to right for explanations.
    • More information and data on http://www.gdacs.org/tsunamidocs
  • Tsunami[25] – expected arrival times at other nations shores, with periodic updates
  • Tsunami inundation of Japan map,[26] jointly developed by:
    • European Commission - Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC)
    • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
    • This map shows the calculated inundation (with the JRC Hyflux hydrodynamic model). Inundation is shown as green bars, showing the distance the tsunami reached inland from the coast line.
  • USAID Map summary[27] link to detail[28] PDF
    • USAID Map dated Mar 13-14 showing earthquake and tsunami impact[29] with nuclear power plants, railroads, primary and secondary roads.  Interestingly Onawaga was closer to the epicenter, but Fukushima seems to be much more damaged.  I downloaded a copy of this map naming it:
      • EOJ Map 2011 Mar 14 USAID
  • United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) maps tsunami crossing pacific ocean
  • UN SPIDER[30] – Space Based info on the earthquake and tsunami – this http://www.un-spider.org/japan-pacific includes links to other info from DLR, Emergency Mapping Resources, Google Earth Flood Maps of Japan, NOAA, Tsunami Warning Centers, USGS, etc.  This place is GREAT … you gotta bookmark it. There is a mind-boggling volume of resources here.
  • United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) shows latest info in real time on www.hewsweb.org about the disaster and its effects
  • USGS Shake Map[31]
  • Worst affected areas in Japan[32]

[1] With Haiti disaster we saw the development of new ways maps can help in crises, and we also saw lots of uncoordinated efforts.  Will the humanitarian community apply those lessons in Japan?

[11] See my separate notes on the Japan nuclear disasters.

[15] Thanks Bev for locating this for me.

[18] This is a topographical map, not detailing street map detail.



Alister Wm Macintyre (Al Mac)


Groups this Group Post belongs to: 
howdy folks